


After The Abyss

by Abitscrewy



Series: Dragon Age Drabbles [2]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Adamant Fortress (Dragon Age), Angst, Cole hates Adamant Fortress, Fear Demons (Dragon Age), Flashbacks, One Shot, Post-Dragon Age: Inquisition Quest - Here Lies the Abyss, Solas and Blackwall helping Cole through panic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2019-10-10
Packaged: 2020-12-07 19:04:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20980859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Abitscrewy/pseuds/Abitscrewy
Summary: Pushing your fears away for later hurts when that 'later' comes up.





	After The Abyss

Cole had never considered the idea that the Inquisitor would have to go to Adamant. He would have helped anyway, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t terrified. He’s always been good at keeping fear away until it’s all over and done with. Then there’s nothing to fear, so it can rest somewhere else.

Then they fell. The rubble of the fortress crashed down around them and they were all pulled into the fade. The Inquisitor, The Hawke, The Warden, Blackwall, Solas, and himself. The last of which was likely the least terrified of the bunch. While he’d avoided dangerous areas, he’d still at least been in the fade before.

The last time Cole had been in the fade, it had not been pretty, and it wasn’t like this at all. It had seemed real then, but here it is real. Their bodies _and_ minds fell through the veil, and they very well could have been stuck there. Somehow the Inquisitor and Solas had manged to keep Cole’s panic at bay at least long enough to remember how to fight. He was still shaking on the inside. Waiting for the world to shift around them, waiting to find himself in another cupboard with a dead child in his arms.

He pushed the thought away like he always does when he fights, but this was a different fear. The fear of just dying is one thing. There, fear surrounded him, suffocated him. There was no pushing it away for long.

They escaped, but he couldn’t fight. Luckily the soldiers dedicated to the Inquisition’s cause were there beyond the rift they fled from. Solas had made it out first, followed by Cole and Blackwall. The others didn’t follow at first, and they all had the same thought. Had they died?  
Cole had no time to think through the idea before the flood took his mind. Demons were being controlled by blood mages, demons summoned from the fade and him. A spirit of compassion, trying to help the helpless. How do you help if you’re the helpless one?  
The answer is somewhat simple; Have good friends.

Cole was surprised to realize that he’d collapsed on the ground. The only way he knew this was because when he opened his eyes all he saw was dirt and quickly-drying blood. The sound of boots and battle was muffled, blocked by a persistent ringing and pulsing noise in his ear. Like a wave sloshing against his eardrums from the inside.

He’d been curled on his side for an unknown amount of time, his hat lying on the ground beside him. He doesn’t like that. His hat hides him and, even though most people can’t see him. Some drowned-out part of him wonders why he wants to hide from his friends. That’s an internal conversation to have later. There’s a shadow over him and it takes Cole a moment to register that someone has a hand on his shoulder. His eyes open again, unsure of when they had re-closed, and it’s not only one hand.

Blackwall has knelt beside him, eyes on the battle and shield raised high. Ready to defend against what might come. He’s risking his stance by having his left hand on Cole’s shoulder. The other hand was Solas, and the muffled voice must be his too. There are voices everywhere of course, but this one is closest. Perhaps Blackwall is shouting orders, or for help.

A bolt of fire bounces off the shield Blackwall supplies, but it makes Cole jump. He tries to push himself off the ground, but there’s pain everywhere. He’s not much more wounded than the others physically. He’s stood up from much worse for his friends before, so he can’t figure out why he merely collapses again. He can’t hear anything past the rush of fear. Through all of this, Solas has been trying to reach through. Find some crack in the wall of terror to pull his friend out.

The rift closes a moment after Hawke and Lanse stagger through. Both look haggard but ready to continue the fight if they must. The Inquisitor manages to dispose of most of the surrounding demons before collapsing as well. All that’s left is Hawke and the agents surrounding them. Cole can feel it, they can see him. There’s enough attention on him, enough of the fade left that he’s brighter. The scrutiny does nothing to help. He presses his palms to his ears and tries to ignore all the voices. The pain surrounding him is enough to rival the pain inside of him. 

“Cole?” a voice finally makes it through. Solas found the way in, though it took Blackwall prying his hands off his ears. He feels bad for it, Cole can tell, but something changed enough that Cole can hear. He’s glad about that.

“Cole, I know you’re scared. It’s alright, the rift has closed...” The mage pauses, then frowns. “You can still hear them, can’t you?” Cole manages a weak nod, and Solas sighs.

“He’ll hear them less if he moves. He needs a healer and a drink,” Blackwall gruffly states. His voice is hoarse from shouting, shaky from his fears faced. Solas casts a glare his way but it softens a moment later. His statement has merit, moving Cole away from all this is the best option.

“Although I would not suggest a _drink_, we should leave. I doubt you want to stay here,” Solas’ question is answered by Cole vigorously shaking his head despite the dizziness that follows.

Cole attempts to sit up again, watching the world here and past the veil spin around him. There are still flashes of it, though some are not from what he’s just faced. That part he doesn’t understand. He still sees the hollow things around them, hears Wynne’s voice for a moment. Solas and Blackwall steady him as he sways, and that seems to break him out of it enough to be able to speak. Even if it’s only a whisper of an echo.

“Leave.. Yes... Yes, please,” the young man finds his daggers to be sheathed, and his friends help him stand. As they move to the camps outside of Adamant, his thoughts make it past the barrier of speaking versus thinking.

“I s-saw Rhys... And Wynne. I heard... They weren’t there,” he knows that much, but that doesn’t answer why he still saw them. Why he could hear Evangeline and Rhys telling him it would be alright.

Blackwall may never understand Cole’s ties to the fade, but he can understand seeing things that were once there.  
“No, they weren’t,” the warrior frowned. “Some rest and as much distance from that place as possible, and it should calm down. I hope. They’re not ghosts are they?” He’s never really been good with words. Solas glares at him for a moment. A warning but not one of any physically harming intent.

“In a way, they might have been... You said, in the Fade, you had been there before?” Solas asks quietly, still steadying his friend as they walk. 

“Yes,” Cole shudders at the thought. “It was somewhere else... Memories, muddled, a demon in her friend. I didn’t mean to be there...” he’s not sure he has the energy to go through it all, even just thinking about it is making his stomach turn. He doesn’t even eat and yet he feels sick.

“It’s alright, Cole. You don’t have to tell us everything. If you had been here before, been through this part of the Veil before, it may explain why you saw them. The Fade holds on to memories like that, and we have just faced a demon of nightmares and fears,”

“Sometimes terrible things sink their claws in and don’t let go,” Blackwall interrupts. “They aren’t here, Cole... I don’t know who these people were, but we’re the ones here right now. Focus on what you feel _here_. Memories can’t hurt you out here. I hope,” The stoic man dusts off a seat for Cole and helps Solas sit him down.  
“I’m off to find the healer. They should be able to see him, right?” He huffs awkwardly. “We’re here to help if you need it.” Blackwall gives a tired pat on Cole’s shoulder and limps his way to the healers.

Solas sits with the young spirit, staying as the fear fades from his friend.  
It takes the better part of an hour for Cole to stop hearing the cries from beyond the fade.

He never wants to return here again.


End file.
